アレウト山脈周辺のおすすめファミリーハイキング＆ウォーキング

The two-tiered Brooks Falls viewing platform is the most popular place to be in Katmai National Park, because it offers great overlooks of the biggest and most dominant bears fishing around the waterfall. It can get crowded in July, so you should expect to wait a while before being allowed onto the platform. Your time on the platform may also be limited, usually to about an hour. There are restrictions on tripod use as well.

The most dominant bears tend to do their fishing around Brooks Falls, visible from the Falls viewing platform. However the Riffles platform, situated about 100 yards downstream from the Falls platform, has some advantages. There is usually no time limit for occupancy, and you are allowed to use tripods here. It's also a great place to watch sows teaching their cubs how to fish, and subadults trying out their new skills. You can view bears fishing in the Riffles via a NPS webcam: explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-the-riffles

This bridge takes you across the Brooks River, the same water that rushes down the famous Brooks Falls a short distance upstream. There is a viewing platform at each end of the bridge, and you may see bears down by the river — or even on the bridge itself!

This picnic area on the shores of Brooks Lake offers a vault toilet, food cache, and covered cooking/eating area. The lake outlet, near the picnic area, is a good place for salmon-viewing in August and September. Sometimes you'll see bears fishing here, too. Human anglers also use this area as a starting point to access the upper Brooks River.

The campground has vault toilets, potable water, and an electric fence to deter bears. Capacity is limited to 60 people and fills up quickly during the summer.

The Brooks Camp Visitor Center, usually open June through late September, is your initial point of entry to Brooks Camp. This is where you'll get your mandatory introduction to bear etiquette. You can also chat with park rangers, attend ranger-led events, and shop the Alaska Geographic store, which include books and souvenirs. The camp has water and bathrooms and makes a great pitstop.

You can get to know some of the specific bears you might see at Brooks Falls, or elsewhere along the Brooks River, with this electronic pamphlet from the National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/photosmultimedia/ebooks.htm

From this viewpoint, you can see distant views of Margot Creek on its way to the Iliuk Arm of Naknek Lake. Bears do fish in this creek, and a second viewpoint down the road gets you much closer to the creek. Think about how far you want to walk: Going on to the second viewpoint will add a bit more than 6 miles, or 10 kilometers, to your round trip distance. If you don't want to make the long walk on the road, you can pay for a ticket on the tour bus run by park concessionaire Katmailand. The drivers will let you off anywhere you like, and they will also pick you up as long as they have seats available. https://katmailand.com/katmai-national-park/valley-of-ten-thousand-smokes/